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Thursday, July 14, 2016

Let's Build a Room (or better yet, three)!!!

Thank you all who gave yesterday and helped meet our match yesterday. If you were watching, it turned out to be quite a nail-biter! Thankfully, in the last minute, a big donation came in and we ended up exceeding the match by several hundred dollars. Honestly, there was a moment in time where it did feel impossible, but of course, it all worked out, because I can always count on you coming through for the cats and kittens.

A huge hug and a thank you to all who made that happen yesterday -- especially our Awesome Anonymous Donor who offered up the challenge.

And on to the next!

I've been volunteering for the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County for almost ten years now. In this time, I've witnessed a lot of positive changes happen for the cats -- particularly in how they are housed. They've always been very forward-thinking in this area, and are constantly reworking and reconfiguring the cattery and the adoptable cat viewing areas to make things more comfortable for their temporary residents, while making the most of the space that they have.

They consult teams of experts. They consider many things, like the amount of natural light in the space, noise levels, traffic flow, and proximity to the dog population -- with an end goal of keeping the cats as stress-free and happy as they can.

When cats are feeling comfortable, their personalities shine through and it allows potential adopters to see who they really are, which makes for better matches. Ultimately, it shortens their stay at the shelter, and reduces the likelihood of a return.

A few years back, thanks to generous donations from our IBKC community, they built the Petunia Louise Community Cat Room. In this space, multiple cats take up residence, with ample room for hiding, scratching, playing and simply being a cat. With plenty of perching and resting opportunities, this is the perfect place for extremely timid or fearful cats to be in a community with one another and come out of their shells. Studies also show that living in groups like this can cut down on feline stress.

When I visit the shelter I always make a point of walking past the "Petunia". I love seeing the cats interact in there, and I love watching people react to its residents. It is quite appealing, and I understand why cats housed there get adopted so quickly.

With all of the success of the Petunia Louise Community Cat Room, they've decided it's time to build another one!

In addition to this new space, there are other renovations to be made.

They've had more cat adoptions than ever before -- in June of 2015, there were 300 and in June of 2016 they had 331. To accommodate this extra traffic, they need to create two additional cat visitation rooms. This will help cut down the wait times for potential adopters and also allow them to spend more time with the shelter cats and kittens so they can get to know them better before making their decisions.

Of course, these improvements come with a price tag, and $10,000 is needed to complete the new community cat room and the two visitation rooms.

AND THAT'S WHERE WE COME IN!!

Today, we're going to help them build these rooms! All of the donations we raise will go towards these projects!!

Here's the really awesome part: we've got a HUGE $5000 matching donation challenge from our Awesome Anonymous Donor on the table today, and for every dollar we donate, she will be doing the same. So, if we max-out her match, we can FULLY FUND this project!

I hope you'll consider making a donation today -- it's an important one. With our support on these projects, we'll help reduce feline stress, we'll help make good kitty connections, and we're going to help get cats adopted! Not only adopted, but adopted quickly! We put them on the fast track to their forever homes!

Our match runs until 7:00 PM tonight (Pacific Time), but I'm hoping we can wrap it up a little earlier, so we don't have such a nail-biter like last night! To make a tax-deductible donation, please visit our FUNdraising page by clicking HERE.

Shelby at the shelter sent me some pictures of The Petunia Louise Community Cat Room and a few residents enjoying their time there. Thanks for the photos, Shelby, and thanks for providing me with some info about these exciting shelter projects! I can hardly wait to see the end results!!

5 comments:

When I was in Tacoma a couple of years ago I spent a good bit of time sitting in the Petunia Louise Community Cat Room and I can attest to the fact that shy kitties not only love that space and its hiding places, they also eventually come out of their hidey holes and feel comfortable doing so, and some even find their way to your lap. It's heaven! XO

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^^^ Look what we did! Thanks to YOU!

Please click on cute kitten above to learn about our fundraiser for our shelter and make a tax-deductible donation! Thanks!

YOU ALL ARE AWESOME!

WE LOVE YOU IBKC COMMUNITY!

A HUGE THANKS TO OUR AWESOME DONORS!

Thank you so much for caring so much and giving to support the Humane Society for Tacoma and Pierce County. Because of your huge hearts, we're making the difference in the lives of so many cat and kittens. Well done, Community. Well done!

We're always on the hunt for good people in the Seattle or Tacoma area to adopt our fosters kittens. If you are thinking about adding a kitten or two to your life, drop us a line and tell us a little bit about yourself. Click here to email the IBKC !